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2023-03-31-annual-report

¢P Newto ANNUAL REPORT lorwa 2022-23

22/23

year in review

£8.3m Income generated £ for local families

Our Aims

To ensure that individuals do not suffer through:

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43k+ 1526 52
Client Disability Forms Awareness Events
Enquiries completed across the Borough
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Lack of knowledge of their rights and responsibilities; Lack of knowledge of the services available to them; or

An inability to express their needs effectively.

Our Values

Advice 4 Health 88% 630

clients referred from Health Professionals through our Advice4Health Project

success rate at appeal tribunals

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93%
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of clients were happy with the advice they received

Community Advice Antrim & Newtownabbey is:

Committed to a socially just, tolerant and pluralist society;

Opposed to all forms of discrimination; and

An equal opportunities employer and welcomes the participation of all sections of our community at all levels of the organisation.

1128 Digital Enquiries

164 new Money Advice clients

263 clients supported with appeal tribunals

Community Advice Antrim & Newtownabbey exercises a responsible influence on the development of laws, policies and services locally

Chairperson’s Report

Valuing and supporting our people to deliver for our clients is at the heart of strategic decisions made by CAAN’s Trustee Board; this approach has never been more vital than it has this year. Ensuring the wellbeing of our staff and volunteers has been key to navigating CAAN through the demands of a Cost-of-Living crisis and to proactively deliver an Advice Plus model that meets the needs of those struggling within our community.

As chairperson, I acknowledge the team of volunteers, staff and trustees that is CAAN. Through their dedication, they continue to ensure our public benefit is fulfilled; they pull together to ensure clients do not suffer through a lack of knowledge of their rights and responsibilities, or of the services available to them, or through the inability to express their needs effectively and equally.

On behalf of the board, we acknowledge that our achievements are only made possible by the unwavering support of our funders and partners, for this we extend our sincere gratitude.

Delivering quality advice has led to many households across the borough being better off than they would have been without the CAAN service. £8.3million of income has been generated, subsequently supporting the local economy.

Geraldine Haire

Money Matters

Money Matters
2022/2023 - 12 months
Reserves brought forward		 2022
£318,253
Income for the year
Antrim and Newtownabbey Council
ANBC Social Supermarket
Public Health Agency (Northern Offce)
Macmillan Cancer Support
AdviceNI – Money Advice
Oasis Care
Pensionwise
The Enkalon Foundation
Donations
Investment Income
Total
How funding was spent		 £420,511
£149,987
£96,052
£62,260
£39,553
£6,799
£5,850
£2,500
£945
£94
£784,552
Charitable Activities
Governance Costs
Total		 £793,619
£3,458
£797,077
Closing Reserves £305,728

Top Enquiries

15%
9%
6%
3.5%
4%
3%
2.5%		 25%
32%
Universal Credit 13,787
Disability Benefts
Other Welfare Benefts		 10,765
6,514
Crisis Intervention 3,833
Employment 1,756
Housing 1,504
Consumer & Debt 1,235
Miscellaneous 2,489
Other* 1,195
Total Enquiries = 43,078

*includes: Legal, Family, Education, Immigration

Area Manager’s Report

As a manager, a team, a service; we are proud of the impact we have had this year on the wellbeing of those across our community.

Knowing the Cost-of-Living challenges that people faced, CAAN grasped feasible opportunities to increase awareness and develop our advice service to support those in need.

Advice often makes a long-term difference to our clients, but for CAAN to strengthen this support to include the immediate and short term, demonstrates the effectiveness of our partnerships. There is no doubt that our people know how to deliver outcomes for our community! In addition to the £8.3million we generated for clients through wraparound advice and advocacy, we helped to put food on the table for those hungry, heat in the homes of those cold, and connections for those isolated and alone.

New innovative partnerships were created, and old ones were strengthened:

We are grateful for the strong partnerships we have with Antrim and Newtownabbey Borough Council, Department for Communities, Public Health Agency and Macmillan. It is with the foundation of these core services that we have been able to enhance services with new partners. My personal thanks must go to our trustees, our staff, our volunteers. A team that inspires; a team that delivers.

Lorraine Adamson

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We wouldn’t
be us without
our wonderful,
talented and
dedicated staff,
volunteers and
trustees.
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Community Advice Antrim & Newtownabbey Support in Time of Need

Jo (not her real name) was referred to Colleen as part of our Financial Inclusion project within the Antrim Foodbank. As a regular user of the Foodbank one of the staff members brought Jo over to Colleen to see if she could be entitled to any additional benefits.

As a single parent in receipt of Income Support and Tax Credits, Colleen established that even though all of her means tested benefits were in place due to Jo’s mental health she could be entitled to Personal Independence Payments (PIP). It was clear that Jo would fulfil the criteria for PIP but she did not want to apply as she had previous experience of the process and it had a detrimental impact on her health. With reassurance that we would help her through the claim she agreed to proceed and we supported her with the application. During this process we were able to support the client

further with the introduction of the Social Supermarket and provided the client with 6 weeks of vouchers to ease her financial struggle. Jo’s claim was disallowed.

With her consent we requested a Mandatory Reconsideration, and we supported it by obtaining further medical evidence. The decision was overturned and Jo was awarded the Enhanced Rate of Daily Living at £101 per week. On doing a further benefit check it became clear she would also now be entitled to an increase on her Income Support claim of £76 per week.

She now presents more confident and willing to make active changes with support to aid her mental health issues; she is no longer struggling financially and doesn’t need food packs from foodbank.

Community Advice Antrim & Newtownabbey Support in Time of Need

Harry (not his real name) was referred to our Advice4Health project by his GP in 2022 for help with his benefits. Harry explained to the Advice4Health worker Louisa that he had been overpaid Universal Credit and repaying this was causing his mental health to deteriorate. Harry advised that he suffered from depression and anxiety following the passing of a very close family member.

Louisa completed a benefit check for Harry and looked into the reasons for the overpayment. Louisa established that the Universal Credit overpayment occurred as the benefit agency had made an error and failed to deduct Harrys Employment and Support Allowance off his award. His Universal Credit was then reduced and £45 a month was taken off the client to repay his overpayment and other loans. In addition to this error relevant premiums and housing cost supplements were not included in Harrys Universal Credit calculation.

While challenging this decision we asked for deductions to be suspended and helped the client

with charitable support through Foodbank, 7th Heaven support with pet food, gas and electric help through the Methodist Mission. Thanks to Louisas’ intervention in the case we were able to get the clients overpayment cancelled as the amount the department had underpaid the client in premiums was almost the same as what the Department said the client owed.

When discussing benefits Harry also explained that he had a Personal Independence Payment (PIP) decision that had been turned down in 2019. Harry had appealed the decision with help from family but were still waiting on a date. Our appeal representative Danielle then took on this part of the case. Danielle helped to complete a written submission for the client and with additional medical evidence from his GP, Harry was successful at the appeal, being awarded Enhanced Rate Daily Living and Standard Rate Mobility. This is a total of £116.85 a week and Harry received a backpayment of £25,000.

Charitable Support - Advice Plus

In response to the cost of living climate now more than ever we recognize the need of immediate support. In addition to the advice provision that supports the clients medium and longer term needs we have also been able to support clients with the following:

214 households supported with home heating through partnerships

1,197 people supported with over £130,000 in food support

78 Samsung Tablets distributed in partnership with The Loneliness Network

578 clients referred to local foodbanks

93 families supported with £38k in partnership with Save The Children

700 toys distributed to families at Christmas

37 referrals to Baby Basics

Thank you to our partners ¥IAntrim and g Newtownabbey vice ni Dfc 8c)TrniJcH c.c)IlNC.IL the independent ¥rf¢h•lwOt LWrtfflent forc0mmunrt￿j HSC Public Health J Agency Pension cltlzens advlce ORANOE Save the Chlldren. foodb NEwfoviNABE' EfHoDI81 ISSlf4 arranshane fflACfflILLAN Enkalon Foundation

*Case study photos are for representation purposes only

Community Advice Antrim & Newtownabbey is Authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority FRN:616960 Company Limited by Guarantee, Registered Number NI32847 Charity Number NIC100420

www.communityadvicean.co.uk

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